June 20/98 3:27 am - Beauce Stage 4

Posted by Editor on 06/20/98

Beauce Stage 4

Frank McCormack (Saturn) put in a superb effort in the time trial this morning to jump back into the top 5 of general classification, while his team mate Levi Leiphemer, the overall leader, extended his lead on second place. For the Beauce region, the 15.7 kilometre stage could be considered flat, with only one short climb after the turnaround. The conditions were almost perfect - a slight headwind on the way out, and a tailwind to bring the riders home.

There were no real surprises in the results - none of the top riders had a really bad ride, but the stage did shuffle a few spots in the 6th through 10th positions. McCormack was one of three riders to go under 20 minutes, recording 19:31.51. 20 seconds back was the Latvian rider Dainis Ozols (Mroz), with Navigator's Trent Klasna rounding out the top 3, a further 3 seconds in arrears. Thurlow Rogers (Mercury) continues to storm with a second successive 4th place result, and Leipheimer filled out the top 5, finishing 33 seconds behind his team mate winner.

Andrzei Sypytkowski (Mroz), second overall, and only 7 seconds behind Leipheimer going into the stage did not have as good a ride, finishing 15th (1:02 behind McCormack), and losing more time on first. He is now 36 seconds behind Leipheimer. The top four on general classification did not change (although Leipheimer gained time on them all), but McCormack displaced Tomas Konecny (ZVVZ) - who dropped to 8th - and Tomasz Brozyna (Mroz) moved to 7th from 9th, dropping Jacques Landry (Radio Energie) one position to 9th.

Tonight the riders race a 50 kilometre (31 lap) criterium downtown in St Georges de Beauce, which is expected to have little effect on G.C., however, tomorrow they finish off the race with a final road race of 180 kilometres, which could potentially upset the standings all together.